Our Numbered Days
by The Black Sacrament
Summary: Every great story has a beginning, middle, and end. Not necessarily in that order. We are all great stories. AU. A collection of unchronological one shots.
1. Leah and Dani: The Bottom of the Ocean

She sits quietly in the sand, legs splayed out and fingers digging in as if searching for something.

Her deep brown eyes gaze upon the horizon as the sun sets over the Pacific ocean before us. The wind smoothes it's invisible phalanges through her long mane, causing it to whip to and fro.

Her caramel skin glistens under the waning sunlight. Droplets of seafoam cling to it as if they were meant to be apart of her. She is some distant ancestor to the ocean.

No, she is the ocean.

And I am some shipwrecked seafarer standing on a deserted island, waiting to be embraced by her.

In moments like this, her entire being stretches out as far as the eye can see.

Her soul, the reflection of the Sun as it sinks below the water.

Her eyes, the moon floating on the surface at midnight.

Her skin, the waves that crash against the sand.

Her voice, the sound of those waves in the dead of night where I alone stand to listen.

These moments always seem to stretch on for eternity before she reminds me that I am still alive. That I am not just a cold, dead satellite drifting in her orbit. A boat floating on her rough tide.

A ghost, whose body sleeps on the sea floor, forever haunting her.

Quietly in love.

"Stop staring, weirdo," she snarks quietly. Her eyes aflame with mirth and light. The way they only ever are with me.

My heart beats a bit faster in my chest and my hands betray me. They break my concentrated moment as my sandy fingertips graze over her damp skin. Until finally, our fingers interlock.

Emotions grasp my throat as our eyes connect and I want to say something.

Anything...

In the end...the words sink to the bottom of the ocean.


	2. AliceJasperSpencer: You and You and Me

_"Alice! Jasper keeps cheatin' at poker," the most heavenly voice called to me._ _My dead heart gave a phantom thump in my chest._ _I tried in vain to see the owner of the voice but their face was blurred out completely. Judging by the voice, it would be worth the wait._

_Jasper's handsome grin split his face in a way that I had seldom witnessed before. Like the permanent darkness that always seemed to loom over him dissipated in his presence.__Something about this caused a dull ache in my chest._ _My mate had found another._

_"I don't have to cheat, darlin'. Next it's your pants, then your boxers," he rasped in a tone that he only ever used with me. I began to wish I could stop watching._

_"You fuckin' wish," the rough, male voice jeered. I could almost hear an eye roll. "Remember how I beat Alice?"_

_I still couldn't see the young man's face but Jasper's said it all_. _A seductive smirk spread across his lips like wildfire._

_"That's why she's not allowed to play anymore. She'd willingly lose against you every time." _

"What did you see," Jasper asked curiously, holding my hands in his own.

"I saw us...with someone else."

My mate could instantly tell that my emotions were out of wack. Within reason, of course. I'd never seen Jasper flirt with anyone else and it hurt beyond imagining.

"How is that even possible?"

I'd seen it in my visions before, with other mated pairs, but never us. I hadn't even let it be a possibility until now. Polyamory was something Rose and Emmett would indulge in, not Jasper and I.

We had the kind of love that movies were based on. I'd seen _Jasper _in my visions as a newborn, not this unknown man.

However, no matter how much I reasoned our future away, my undead heart yearned to see the mysterious man. To hear his voice one more time...

"I don't know, Jazz."

-o0o-

After months of waiting, and Jasper getting on my last nerve, it was time.

We would meet our mate in the forest outside of Seattle.

I watched as Jasper put on his favorite outfit and meticulously fixed his hair. He watched me try on every single combination possible in my massive closet, only to remind me that any mate of ours would love me no matter what I wore.

When the time came, we stood in the middle of a blooming meadow hand in hand. We could already smell him in the air. He smelled like peppermint and tea leaves. I wanted to envelope myself in his aroma.

In the distance, crunching leaves could be heard. He was running towards us at top speed. I'm sure he knew we were here, waiting. I wondered to myself if he felt this same pull that tugged us toward him.

I could only hope so.

The moment he emerged from the thick foliage, any image I had conjured up in my mind was wiped away. Any air in my lungs rushed out in awe. I could barely hear Jasper doing the same as he squeezed my hand.

He was...everything.

"Oh dang. Y'all are beautiful," he breathed, a magnificent smile splitting his chiseled, brown face.

We couldn't help but laugh aloud at his blunt words. Any doubt I had dissipated into thin air. And just like the first time I met Jasper, everything fell together like the last pieces of a life long puzzle.

"You kept us waiting long enough."


	3. RoseEmmettSantana: Ready

"You're not ready for that talk yet, Santana. Maybe when you're older," Tanya said for the thousandth time since I became old enough to ask real questions.

I had heard that string of words more times than I can count in the last few years. I was never old enough, never ready for _that talk_.

What is the talk, you ask?

Where do I begin?

When I was two years old, Tanya, Irina and Kate found me one night while "wandering" the woods.

They came upon a burning shack and found me crying alone in the living room. I showed clear signs of neglect and abuse. If they had not found me, I wouldn't be here today.

My new parents promptly took me back to their home and nursed me back to health, slowly but surely. I've been their baby girl ever since.

My whole life, I felt like an outcast among my family. I'd always been the youngest, the most naive, and the darkest of skin. However, most importantly, I was the only one that had ever eaten a meal.

That last little tidbit of information is not what I was so inquisitive about.

_That_ talk happened long ago.

What puzzled me were the feelings that would not go away.

Let me continue my story.

The Cullens had visited us a dozen times throughout the years.

I had memories as a child of sitting in Alice's lap and having her play with my hair while the grown ups talked.

Everything had always been normal.

However, the last time they visited was on my sixteenth birthday and something happened inside me.

I remember watching as The Cullens filed in like normal but this time, when my eyes landed on two of them, my heart skipped a beat. It was like I had never seen them before.

I immediately became overwhelmed with a feeling I had never felt as their eyes caught mine. It felt like I was seeing the entire universe in the blink of an eye.

All I could think to do was disappear. Even though all I truly wanted was to step closer.

Later that night, after avoiding them at all costs, Tanya came to my room to talk.

"What happened, my love," she probed gently, careful not to awaken my hormonal beast.

I struggled to find the words to describe the weird sensation of longing inside me. It was like a part of me was no longer there.

"I just felt overwhelmed all of a sudden. Like a flood of emotion out of nowhere and then this ache inside my chest. I know it sounds weird."

Tanya blinked in what looked like surprise and then turned away. Whatever expression came over her face, I never got to see it.

"Your body is changing rapidly, San. You're going to experience a lot of emotions that scare you. If you feel overwhelmed, know that you can talk to any of us, sweetheart."

With a pat on my back Tanya left the room swiftly, leaving me with my thoughts and the longing. Deep down, I couldn't help but think she knew something.

After that, I made it my mission to get her to spill whatever information she was holding back. To my dismay, she would only utter those irritating words or tell me that one day they would tell me themselves.

When I was ready.

It had been two years and five hours since they last visited.

I had counted down the days, the hours, and lost count of the seconds since I saw them.

It was my day, my eighteenth birthday, but the only thing on my mind was seeing them again.

As their expensive tires rolled across the gravel, I thought of her blonde hair cascading down her back like rays of sunshine in the early morning. I remember his blinding smile and the way his strong arms used to pick me up and twirl me around any time he saw me.

A knock at the door interrupted my musing and I cleared my mind of those thoughts as to not be rude. If I let myself fall too deep, I've learned that I won't recover quickly.

I hugged all of my favorite cousins as they come in, thanking them as they lie gifts at my feet.

A chorus of happy birthdays rang in my ear and it echoed as my eyes flickered to them. Their smiles are the brightest. They always have been every time they visited. Always giving me their undivided attention.

How had I not noticed before?

As the evening moved forward, the conversation flowed but I remained silent, watching them as they talk. It amazed me how easily I could be memorized by the simplest curvature of their lips.

I'm aghast the thoughts my once pure mind can conjure up...and I think Edward was too if his grimace was anything to go by.

"Santana, are you ready to open gifts," Alice squealed, beaming at me as if she bought me the Sun. I wouldn't have been surprised, honestly.

After opening nearly all of my gifts, Rosalie and Emmett were last.

The entire room went completely silent as they both sat on either side of me. My face flushed and I forgot how to breathe when Rose placed a small, velvet box and a letter in my hand. I couldn't bear to look them in the eyes and I didn't know why.

I dared to glance at the rest of the room, only to notice they had promptly exited in true vampire fashion.

"Santana, we both apologize for keeping you waiting for so long," Rosalie murmured in a tone I seldom heard from her.

Confusion spiked inside me and then embarrassment. They knew about my feelings the entire time.

Though I pride myself on my hard exterior, I wanted to cry in shame.

"Please don't cry. You haven't heard the awesome news yet," Emmett joked in his normal way, making me smile despite myself.

Rosalie rolled her eyes and took my hands, forcing me to look into her glowing amber eyes.

They glistened in the light.

"Santana, have your mothers ever talked to you about their bond?"

I remembered back to my thirteenth birthday, listening to them explain the different types of bonds vampires can have with one another. I recall being so happy to know that they shared the rarest bond of all and wishing I could have that.

I nodded quietly, brows knitting together. My mind was in disarray trying to figure out what was happening.

"Emmett and I are mates. I found him over eighty years ago in the backwoods of Tennessee being mauled by a bear. As soon as I laid eyes on him, I knew he was my mate and I would do anything to save him. Everything finally made sense."

I was intrigued at the story she told but my heart ached as she spoke. Emotion knotted up in my stomach.

I watched as she took the velvet box and opened it for me to gaze upon what lie within.

A golden necklace with a rose and a bear dangling from the chain met my eyes.

"I tell you that to tell you this. Emmett and I both felt that same feeling when we saw you. We never thought we would get to have such an amazing gift but here you are. Our missing puzzle piece," Rosalie whispered with eyes filled to the brim with emotion. Emmett looked as if he could cry if it were a possibility.

My own tears fell as if on cue and I didn't bother to wipe them away. Rosalie and Emmett hugged me tightly, whispering loving words in my ears.

I did not know what exactly this entailed. I had only been in one relationship. Hell, I could barely see one year ahead.

However, I knew one thing for certain.

I was ready for love.


End file.
